


Wash the Day Away

by theskywasblue



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: House Cleaning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-23
Updated: 2011-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-23 00:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/244080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakkai has been cleaning all day</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wash the Day Away

**Author's Note:**

> for [](http://chomiji.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**chomiji**](http://chomiji.dreamwidth.org/)'s prompt - "Now I haven't got time for the pain" - with birthday wishes.

Hakkai has been cleaning – scrubbing, polishing, scouring, sweeping and scraping – all damn day, since the minute he got out of bed probably, and the house reeks so strongly of bleach that Gojyo can feel it burning in his sinuses and at the back of his throat.

Gojyo’s beginning to think that he should probably say something, before it goes too much farther.

Where Hakkai’s concerned, Gojyo tends to let a lot of things slide – partly out of defence, and partly out of an understanding. He rocks the boat as little as he can because it’s his only reliable survival mechanism; and anyway, it’s a rough time for Hakkai, when this particular day swings around, with all the rain and the memories. Frenetic activity is a way for him to keep himself from thinking, to keep himself from _remembering_ ; and there’s a big part of Gojyo that respects that.

But the smell of bleach is making Gojyo dizzy, so it’s probably time to stand up in the boat and jump around a little, see what happens.

Hakkai’s got every dish out of the kitchen cupboards and done up in piles on the table, and he’s up on one of the rickety kitchen chairs with his sleeves rolled up, scrubbing out the shelves. He’s already polished the floors to a shine that feels treacherous under Gojyo’s bare feet; he’s disassembled and reassembled the burners on the stove to clean out all the grit; he’s put the curtains through the washer and scrubbed the walls. Everything’s so clean Gojyo’s almost afraid to look at it, in case he leaves dirt behind.

“Hey, Hakkai. You wanna take a break for a while?”

“Oh, I’m nearly done, Gojyo.” He doesn’t look away from what he’s doing, doesn’t slow down. There’s an undercurrent to his voice that hums like a rubber band pulled too tight.

“Yeah, but...” Gojyo leans a little up against the counter, licks his lips, thinking he can taste the bleach in the air. “Hakkai, it’s nearly midnight. Can’t the rest wait?”

“But why stop when I’m nearly done?”

Gojyo has a lot of pride, but he would never have managed to live very long if he didn’t know when to swallow it down like the bad medicine that it is. “Because I’m asking you to.”

It’s like throwing a switch, and Hakkai sort of...deflates, turning and dropping his rag into the sink and easing himself down off the chair. Gojyo puts a hand on his hip to guide him. Hakkai’s hands are red and raw from scrubbing and solvents, and he doesn’t argue when Gojyo turns on the kitchen tap and coaxes them under warm water.

“I suppose I may have gone a little...overboard.” Hakkai says, finally, sounding small and sheepish as he watches Gojyo’s hands cradle his own under the water. “We should probably open the windows before we get brain damage.”

“Yeah, well don’t worry about it,” Gojyo tells him, taking the tea towel that hangs off the door of the fridge to dry Hakkai’s hands. There’s a weird moment as he works the fabric carefully in between Hakkai’s fingers when he realizes that he didn’t even have tea towels until he had Hakkai. “Think about it this way – the place is so clean now that you won’t have to lift a finger for a month.”

Hakkai’s response is a laugh that sounds jagged around the edges, “I know – I can’t even imagine what I’m going to do with myself.”

Gojyo would have to be an idiot not to take advantage of that one. “I’m sure I can help you think of something.”

-End-


End file.
